The City of Aden
by AndiIDKPSAdria1999
Summary: Lilith Nyx was just a normal, socially awkward girl in her underground warring home. All that changed when her best friend was found dead in the darkest corner of Aden and Lilith herself has begun to go through the Emergence. Thrown into an entire new way of life, Lilith has found herself caught in the middle of of the war that is killing the only home she has known. (A new story)
1. Chapter 1

_**An eon prior to the present...**_

I knew we did not have much time; the Guard most likely to come busting in at any moment. But at this time I didn't not care. Not when I finally get to hold him in my arms for the first, and probably the last, time.

He peppered my neck in loving kisses, caressing every part of my body he could touch with his hands. I gasped as an aching fire burned through me, invoked by those kisses and fingers. I reached up, entwining my fingers into his silky black hair, pulling it gently as I wrapped myself around him like a blanket. He lifted his head long enough to smile down on me with a dreamy grin, in his eyes, I could see the love smoldering me in that gaze. I gave a small growl at his pauses, yanking his head down so that I could grasp those lips with my own.

He was mine.

Forever.

* * *

 **The world is burning...**

 **The earth is cracking; struggling for air underneath the endless fire...**

 **The ozone is practically non-existent...**

 **The sun's rays incinerating any or anything that rises to the surface...**

* * *

 **My people, long ago, decided to retreat underneath the surface of our dying world...**

 **For the sake of survival...**

 **With endless perseverance and much bloodshed, they succeeded into building an underground utopia..**

 **A shelter for all those who survived The Burning...**

 **That was when the underworld city of Aden was born...**

 **Beneath the ruins of our old world...**

 **The city thrived...**

 **Until the Emergence began...**

 **Perhaps it was the radiation from the sun some survivors were exposed to for too long...**

 **Or the minimal water supply had become corrupted by the death of natural cycles...**

 **Even now, none know the truth...**

* * *

 **It began with physical changes...**

 **Some would grow tails and ears...**

 **Others scales and claws...**

 **But then...**

 **People suddenly changed completely into grotesque, monstrous man-eaters...**

 **That was when all humans who had undergone the Emergence became isolated and labeled as monsters...**

 **No matter how small their changes were...**

 **They are all monsters...**

 **The people were horrified...**

 **In my personal opinion, it was the Normals who started the Crimson war not the Emergers...**

* * *

 **One day, a Normal with a rare pistol raised in the air spouted out a speech about how the purity of humanity must be preserved...**

 **Then he had shot his young Emerged child in the face...**

 **That was the spark that began the war between the Emergers and the Normals...**

 **A war that has lasted for an entire century...**

 **With no end in sight...**

 **Sure, the all-out-shoot-out battles are scarce and wide-spread...**

 **Many fist-fights or brawls have resulted in more than a few fights...**

 **Gangs ran unchecked within the darkest shadows...**

 **The gunfire from the little battles for territory and grudge matches even heard in the lightest areas...**

 **Political spats between the two groups of leaders who thought they pulled the strings...**

 **Corrupt neutral Enforcers who never did their jobs in the name of the people...**

 **Racism and nasty slurs constantly whispered...**

 **And the ever-growing lists of casualties in the paper have gave proof that the ages of the dead were becoming younger...**

 **While the rate raises everyday...**

* * *

 **I call it quiet chaos...**

 **And I have completely no hope in the humanity on either side...**

 **Because both sides are guilty of the irreparable atrocities committed to the other...**

 **Ensure the survival of the human race?...**

 **Don't fuck with me...**

 **We have long ago lost the right to survive...**

 **That is what I truly believe...**

* * *

 **I was born in the darkness...**

 **Conceived in the never-ending shadow...**

 **Acclaimed daughter of the eternal night...**

 **My name is Lilith Nyx...**

 **And this is my story...**

* * *

 **Present...**

 **Underworld city of Aden...**

 **Year 2999...**

This is the year of the Great Transition.

The year before the world celebrated its third millennium since time began to be recorded.

I bet God, or the gods, or whoever created this godforsaken planet must be weeping or be awfully pissed at what this place has become.

Here in Aden there is no grass, no rain, no bloody sun, no natural light or sky, no seasons, wind or clouds, no nothing to call this place living.

Everything natural was destroyed in the Burning a thousand years ago, when the world was celebrating its second millennium. What shitty birthdays.

No, what is natural now is a world of endless darkness that is illuminated by the half-assed fake sun that is powered by a humongous generator.

All the buildings were made out of long-lasting, study steel and other everlasting metals.

The ground which we walked was a mix of cement, stone, and even hard-packed dirt in some of the more rundown areas.

The walls of this hole were all covered by billions of large, oxygen-producing, temperature-controlling, sheets that kept the surface from caving in over our heads.

I had to admit, albeit grudgingly, that our ancestors were geniuses.

Too bad their utopia was now a big-ass war zone.

"Lili. Hey, Lili! Are you even listening to me?"

I started in my seat, guiltily glancing at my best friend while she rolled her eyes back at me in exasperation.

"I knew it. " She grumbled, giving me the evil eye. "You weren't listening. What is going on with you lately Lili? You've been so distracted."

I shrugged weakly, avoiding her inquiring stare and observed the constant flow of people on the main street heading for the Center across the mini concrete park filled with fake bushes and grass in front of the Institute; the school for the Normals.

What a joke.

She huffed loudly at my side and I realized I had, yet again, not answered her question. I finally turned to her on the bench we sat on with a sheepish smile, giving her my full attention now before she got angry.

"My bad Jade. Sorry, I've just had a lot on my plate, you know, with the Rites coming up in all..." It wasn't the entire truth but pretty damn close.

Her frown instantly slackened into an expression of understanding and she nodded in a grim agreement at my statement.

Jade and I were in our last year in the Institute, a single month shy from the Rites ceremony. The Rites was a system created within the first decades of life in Aden that assigned each new generation of individuals to various life-sustaining jobs in the city based on their potential. It was a very adequate and advanced system that many did not have complaints about since it favored people's preferences and skills. It is one of the only systems that was sufficient.

The electric old-fashioned bell blared from the above our heads from one of the many speakers placed on the Institute's outer-walls signaling the end of our lunch period. I rose quickly, shouldering my fraying book bag and eager to run away from our conversation. I only made it a step back towards the main doors before Jade tugged on my arm, her pretty, delicate features set in another frown.

Jade was one of the most prettiest girls in the Institute, as well as one of the most wealthiest. She also happened to be my only friend. With her wispy, short-cut, blonde hair, grey eyes and petite frame but curvy figure, I was pretty sure she was going to be assigned to the Social or Entertainment services. She also had a voice that drew the attention of most and a look that always caught stares. It also helped that she was a naturally friendly person, a social butterfly, and a community sweetheart.

Polar opposite of me.

"Lili...where do you think you'll be placed?" She said, her concern obvious by the low tones she used.

I shook off her arm gently and gave her a halfhearted smile.

"Who knows." I said calmly. "I'll just let the Rites result carry me, otherwise, what exactly was it made for?"

We continued looking at each other for a silent, tense moment and when I affirmed that she had nothing else to say, I turned my back on her and headed inside.

That was the last time I saw Jade alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**The day my world began crashing down...**

 **Was the day the only friend I had known was murdered...**

 **And it was all my fault...**

* * *

 **Underworld city of Aden...**

 **Year 2999...**

Jade didn't show up at school the next day, nor the day after that. Concern for her began to dawn on me at the end of the second day with no word. It was unlike Jade to go a few hours without sending me a message; two days was an anomaly. With that thought, I had decided to drop by her three-story home in one of the wealthiest, safest districts in Aden, considering how it was placed close to the Center.

The Center was were Aden's political powers worked and butted heads. It was also the Normals military base of operations and was the main location where the official documents of the Rites were passed out. Every system was dolled out there and it is one of the most diverse and busiest places in Aden. Plus, it was the most heavily guarded by the Enforcers.

I knocked on the titanium paneled door the Grandier residence and waited. It didn't take long for Mrs. Grandier, Jade's mother, to answer. Years of being the wife of one of the most influential politicians in Aden honed your answering skills. But gone was the composed, poised Mrs. Grandier, replaced by a red-eyed, disheveled mother of Jade Grandier. Her stress and worry was evident when the spark of hope in her eye died out as soon as she realized it was me.

"Oh Lilith! Is Jade with you? Please, oh please, tell me she is with you." Mrs. Grandier said in a breathless rush as she lurched forward and gripped my hands tightly. Behind her in the entryway, an exhausted David Grandier emerged, his hope also vanishing when he saw me.

A horrible sinking feeling washed through me and I swallowed hard before I answered Jade's mother.

"No ma'am. I came hear to check on her because I haven't heard anything from Jade in two days..." I whispered.

A choked sound came out of Mrs. Grandier's mouth as she released my hands and fell back into her husband's chest when he stepped up behind her. David wrapped a supporting arm around his wife's waist, murmuring soft words into her ear before redirecting his attention to me.

"When was the last time you heard from my daughter Ms. Nyx?" He inquired, his tone somewhat hoarse and no longer the clear and confident voice I listened to on the speakers every morning for class.

I bit my lip, remembering the last conversation I had with Jade in front of the outer wall of the Institute facing the main street heading to the Center.

"Two days ago sir. I ate lunch with Jade then walked back into the building after the bell rang. That was the last time I saw her." I told him.

"I assumed when she didn't show up the next day she was just feeling under the weather because of stress from the Rites. But she always pages me every few hours, this is the first time she has gone two whole days without paging."

After every word I spoke, the Grandier's expressions became darker and darker until Mrs. Grandier broke out into sobs. David steered his wife back inside and closed the door behind him before he spoke.

"Listen well Ms. Nyx. My daughter hasn't returned home for two days, no, almost three days now and there has been no word. I don't want to believe it but..." David Grandier swallowed hard, his composed mask wavering for a split second as he blinked back tears. I blanched, a sense of unreality beginning to descend on me as David fought for words.

"I believe we may have to prepare for the worst."

I don't remember how I staggered my way back to my dinky, one-roomed apartment in my complex at the edge of the Center district. Nor do I remember anything on the third day other than staring at my pager and waiting for the dreaded wide-spread page depicting David Grandier's only child's gruesome murder. I didn't even bother to go to my classes, I was an ace-student anyways. I just laid on my bed, waiting.

Jade Elizabeth Grandier's body was found in the Eonis District at 10:03 p.m. on the third day of her disappearance.

She had brutally beaten, raped, and murdered.

It is still unknown whether it was a Normal or a Emerger who committed the crime.

I stared at the page, rereading for hours before chucking it at the far wall of my room, shattering the device, and screamed and cried my grief til dawn.

I didn't bother to return to class for the rest of the week. I only came out for the services in respect for Jade and her family, ignoring everyone and everything around me. Her metal box of a casket was closed, her body too ruined for the public eye, and the sheer amount of attending spilled out a little into the square in front of the Center. That was just how loved my only friend was.

My parents had been famous doctors in Aden and they had been killed in a raid on the Normals hospital when I was five. From then on I was tossed in between the numerous orphanages in Aden. From the Normal orphanages to the Emerged orphanages. I was young so I didn't hold any prejudice. I still didn't really. Until now, until one or the other had killed the only person who mattered to me. My only family that was left.

I was...

Once again..

Alone...


End file.
